From Millsy: 28mm WW2 British Army Regulars (100 points)

G'day All,

I figured since I agreed to participate in the WW2 Side Duel that I should make at least a token effort to get something painted and submitted.

These are 1st Corps miniatures painted up as British Army Regulars in Normandy '44. Great fun to paint and super fast too. Unlike everything else I've done this year these flew by. Just 3.5 hours from undercoat last night.

The submission represents the start of a Bolt Action force - command, medium mortar and one of three infantry squads. There's also a light mortar team which has no place in Bolt Action (boo!) but came with the army deal so I've painted them anyway. I believe they do have use in Chain of Command.

Hope you like em!

Points wise I've managed to pass my target right at the death. Serves me right for not painting more quick stuff right?

• 18 x 28mm infantry = 90 points
• 1 x 28mm crew served weapon = 5 points

Total = 95 points

So that's my Challenge done for another year. I never tire of these and have great appreciation for Curt and Sarah for the effort they put in to making these happen. Thank you both! Thanks also to my wonderful crop of Antipodean charges, our regular paint-and-chat sessions are the highlight of my week.

See you next year!

Cheers,

Millsy

TeemuL: Going over the target just in time, how precise! I'm quite sure you had this all planned on Excel spreadsheet at the start of the Challenge? The minis look great and provide at least something for the side duel of yours. Now just rest and recovery for the next nine months before this happy mayhem starts again! Thank you for your efforts regarding this Challenge, Millsy!

P.S. Crew served weapons are worth 10 points in 28mm, so 100 points to you. Yeah, we can arque what counts as a crew served weapon, but we can't argue with the Spreadsheet...

From JamesM: 15mm De-frocked Priests, passengers and RE trucks [Limbo] (250 points)

Hi folks,

This entry represents the culmination of years of planning, collecting, and stalled effort - and several months' worth of distracted painting.

The original focus of my 15mm WW2 collection was the 1st Canadian Army's Operation Totalize in August 1944, so these early 'Kangaroos' or 'De-frocked Priests' have been on my to-do list for a long time. Unfortunately, I painted my first few when I started my collection, and they took ages - a feature of my inexperience at that time. The vehicles were fine; the issue was the passengers. 

This then tainted my thoughts about painting more of the bloody things. To make matters worse, my collection grew from a mere infantry company to an entire battalion. Which meant I needed to collect and paint more of the buggers. 

Earlier last year, before being distracted by 40k models, I dug out my selection of FoW blister packs and started on this clergy, hoping to have them done by summer. The plans of mice and men, eh? 

Thankfully, the challenge gave me the impetus to push on and get these all done. 

In total, I've painted 14 of these early tracked APCs. These are Battlefront resin and metal 15mm kits. 

And two passenger stands per vehicle. 

For those not in the know, these vehicles were American M7 Priests, operated by the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division as part of its D-Day assault division organisation. Instead of towed 25-pdr guns, the division was equipped with self-propelled M7s, which fired American 105mm rounds. 

Eventually, in July 1944, the Canadian and British units equipped with the M7s were requested to stop using them and return to British equipment due to ammunition supply issues. 

At the same time, the various allied armies in Normandy were struggling to find a way to advance infantry under armour in a battle dominated by machine guns and mortar fire. A Canadian engineering officer proposed stripping the gun from the M7, welding some steel over the gap, removing the ammo storage and other irrelevant internal fixtures, and using these hulls as armoured personnel carriers. They were used with some success, and later - when the M7s were returned to the Americans, Canadian surplus Ram tanks, with turrets removed, were used in the same role - going on to equip one Canadian and one British regiment. 

As such, my vehicles have been split into groups bearing the markings of 3CID artillery units. 

Alongside these, as a belated part of my preparation for the D-Day games played last year, I painted a pair of cut-down Morris gun tractors. These were primarily used by British airborne forces as tractors for their 17-pdr anti-tank guns, but my research showed they were also used by Royal Engineer units on D-Day as transport off the beaches. 

I've more passengers to paint for these, but they count as painted now!

And because I forget that not everyone is familiar with the scale (and the effects of mobile phone macro photography)... here's a reference for how small those decals are. 

18 x 15mm vehicles = 144 points

2 x drivers = 2 points

28 x passengers = 84 points (counting each strip of three men as 3 points)

'Limbo' = 20 points

Total = 250 points

TeemuL: Just counting my fingers, but your logic on the passengers seems valid and the spreadsheet approves, so I'm quite sure it is okay. That is quite a lot of vehicles, quite a lot passengers and quite a lot of green! Some history lessons, too. I understand that they might have felt overwhelming, especially when more and more is added to the initial project, but these are all done now and lots of points are coming your way!

From TomC: Minimags [DIY] (42 points)

Hello again everyone, a bit of time off has given me an opportunity to claw my lamentable progress up a bit and even add some labels to my posts (sorry Greg!).

Today's entry is a pair of Sd.Kfz 250 halftracks from Battlefront's Flames of War range which I've been working on to serve as part of a pilot for the colour schemes I'd be looking to employ on the German half of the Hit the Beach starter I've had for... some time now.

I haven't painted any vehicles since I was a teenager, when I gleefully slathered a variety of Space Marine tanks in Humbrol enamels, so these were painted with the Colours of War guide from Battlefront at my elbow and an experimental mindset. With that said, any feedback is gratefully appreciated!

Chief experiments were the soft-edged camouflage, which I did with a brush and by glazing in the colours (Citadel Straken Green and Vallejo Chocolate Brown mixed in with the base Vallejo Dark Yellow). The photos I've found usually show a much busier camouflage pattern but this striped pattern is much closer to what I'd be looking to replicate on my other German armour, so on it went!

The other was the splinter pattern camouflage, mostly one of the passenger's smocks, but also on inappropriate items of stowage I'd added from the Plastic Soldier Company set, which also donated the constipated-looking passenger on the right. I'm less convinced by how this turned out, work to be done here... 

Other peculiarities were the shoulder-boards: the 250 was generally the preserve of reconnaissance units, but they changed which colour they used throughout the war, but with different divisions required to adopt the 'new' colours (or so it seems). I went with yellow, which seemed broad enough in usage.

 A fair question is why we're in DIY and kitbashing is the answer. Firstly, our man above is a combination of one of the Battlefront tank commanders and the legs of a Grenadier: I wanted a studious scout crewing my halftrack (rather than a shouty officer-type which comes with the crew set). The other is the halftrack crew, the Battlefront kit has neither driver nor assistant and I wasn't keen on the self-driving haunted halftrack, so I appropriated some Plastic Soldier Company passengers. They required a lot of modification to fit!

For scoring, two 15mm vehicles should be 16 points and then there are seven crew members, but two are sitting and four are very vestigial so I would suggest 6 points for the lot perhaps, equivalent to three standing 15mm infantry? With the DIY bonus, the tentative total is then 42 points, which puts me just over halfway to my Challenge target... lots to do then!

***

Others may have feedback and suggestions Tom, but I would say these look marvellous. Great work. It can be intimidating to tackle new subjects (or, "relatively new" - I mean, I'm sure your teenage years were not to long ago, were they? :). And German WW2 stuff is always extra tricky, as even basic research into their use of camouflage can easily cause brain spasms.

I think your approach here has done the trick! They look great, the crew look excellent too. Advice? I dunno, maybe a pin wash of a dark brown in some of the recesses of the vehicles in order to draw the contrast on the panels? But that's just fiddle-sticking - they would look damn fine on any table in my opinion!

 

The scoring all tracks for me - 42 points for you, well done!

 

GregB

From JamesM: 15mm British Snipers and Radio Truck (24 points)

Hi folks,

Just a small entry from me this week, as I clear the last few bits of WW2 stuff from my painting shelf (for now, at least) and work on some more Necromunda models. 

First up is a 15mm 3d printed Fordson WOT2D Radio Truck from Battlefield3d. I had no specific plan for this vehicle in my collection, so it's just decaled up as part of 51st highland Divisions signals regiment. Shown here alongside my recently completed LAD diorama. 

I've applied my usual selection of teeny decals, added a radio antenna and based to match the rest of my collection. No doubt this will find a role on the table at some point, even if it's just as set dressing. 

Alongside this vehicle, I finished off four bases of sniper teams for my British infantry battalion. When I last had the opportunity to parade my four infantry companies, I realised I was missing some sniper teams (an option from 3rd Ed of Flames of War). I was aware that the infantry battalions of 51st Highland Division had a sniper/scout platoon as part of the Support Company. These bases now give me enough to have three sniper teams per company, or a platoon of 13 bases plus an HQ. 

Utterly pointless game wise for 4th Ed, but the completionism in me wanted to use the figures up. These are metal Battlefront models.  

One of the sniper figures has some conversion work done, to change a beret into a Tam O'Shanter and adding a scope to the rifle held by the same figure. The others consist of older Battlefront sniper minis with a variety of other Battlefront models as spotters. 

Again, figures are based to my usual standard, with a selection of tufts. 

Points wise, it's one 15mm vehicle at 8 points, and eight 15mm figures at 16 points, for a total of 24 points. 

Minion Miles: Another fantastic 15mm entry.  I continue to be impressed with the quality of your 15mm painting.

(For Curtis)From JamesM: 15mm REME vignette (Directors Chair) - 50 points

Hi folks,

Having reached the rarefied gates of the Directors Studio, I paused to survey my pile of 'wouldn't it be cool if...' minis. 

Viewing the assembled hodgepodge of projects I quickly had to decide what submission would best get the executive principle to shift long enough for me to film my much awaited documentary. Which currently has the hard hitting working title of 'Storage Wars - What Really Useful Boxes are ACTUALLY doing with your hobby money'. 

I've got my clickbait documentary thumbnail all ready to go!

Could I persuade him to relinquish his chair through the excitement of 3mm Titans? Or perhaps the nostalgia of more Battlefleet Gothic? The pharmaceutical effects of 1980's Dutch?

In the end, I decided my best bet was to lull him to sleep with a version of my well known classic 'Vallejo Russian Uniform 70.924'. 

So 15mm WW2 British trucks it was!

Vallejo bottle for scale - please note the decals are f*cking tiny

For my directors chair entry, I sheepishly submit a 15mm vignette of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 'somewhere in Normandy'. 

A REME related diorama piece for my collection has been in my head for a while, as I have had a idea  in the past that it would be cool to represent all the various combat arms of the 51st Highland Division. This idea happened to collide with access to 3d printed models through Battlefield3d, and specifically the ability to request models from the Marco Bergman catalogue. 

Hence, the 15mm resin printed Austin K6 Gantry Lorry and Austin Tilly van were procured, at the same time as I picked up last years water and fuel trucks. 

While I'm pretty certain that a Gantry Lorry like the one I've painted here would be much further behind the lines - and I'm not even certain that an infantry brigade workshop unit would have something like this. It was a recovery and repair vehicles however, so I decided to represent some repair work being undertaken by 154 Brigade Workshop, 51st Highland Division. 

For this vignette the front wheel/axle repairs to a 40th Light AA Regiment Morris CDSW (another 51st Highland Division unit) is being repaired. 

The Morris is a resin and metal Battlefront mini I'd had spare, which was a bit beaten up in my bits box. I added some basic bits of stowage for fun and repaired most of the damage. A spare splinter of MDF was used to show the vehicle being propped up.  

The REME decals came from Skytrex - although the resolution is such that I couldn't make out the number on them. I also used Skytrex decals for my Highland Division markings, as my Doms Decals sheet has finally given up the ghost. The AA unit decal was a Doms Decal offering, as were some of the bridging weights. Vehicle registration numbers are a mix of Doms and I-94. Allied stars are a mix of Battlefront and Doms Decals. 

All three vehicles have unit markings front and back, registration numbers and recognition stars. 

The three infantry figures are Battlefront metals with a small amount of conversion work to one in order to remove a rifle. Otherwise, unrealistically these chaps are wearing webbing and stuff they probably wouldn't have had on while working. However, there is a real lack of non-combat 15mm figures, so I made do. The two crouching figures look like they are working on the axle, while the other chap is asking if he should get a brew on (or pop to the NAAFI wagon) 

I'm afraid I did make a conscious artistic decision not to paint the 'mikey mouse' type black camo that these vehicles might have had - both for sanity and aesthetic reasons. My usual over highlighting is done using Mig Dio Paint - Medium Green. 

Having built the scene, and glued everything down, I realised it was still a little bare, so added some bits and bobs of scatter terrain. A couple of piles of spare tyres, jerry cans, crates and barrels - along with a makeshift work bench with toolbox and tools. My usual selection of tufts and flowers rounds it all out. 

One last thing to mention, I had my dad firmly in mind while painting this. He's always been 'into' vehicles and some of my earliest memories are of riding in big trucks with him or staring into engine blocks. So this one sits in my collection in memory of my dad, and innumerable changed spark plugs and oily rags. 

Hopefully, this trio of green lorries will give me the time I need to set the Director snoring and get in get me use of the top studio for a few hours! Without Big Storage catching on to my investigation. 

Points work out as three 15mm vehicles (24 points), three 15mm infantry (6 points) and studio location (20 points) for a total of 50 points. 

Minion Miles: This is a fnatastic vintage and I would have guessed 28mm if you didn't tell me the scale,  Superb work.  Oh and ummm I KNOW WHAT REALLY USEFUL BOXES DOES WITH OUR HOBBY MONEY and it just isn't pretty........

From JamesM: 15mm limbered Pak40s (12 points)

Hi folks,

A quick little entry for me this week, in the form of the towed guns for my previously completed half-track prime movers. 

These are 15mm metal models from Skytrex, who kindly provided three of the limbered gun versions on my order (rather than their usual mix of limbered and deployed). 

A simple paint job, and angled so that they match up with the tow hook placement on the half tracks. Basing done to my usual style to fit with the rest of my collection. 

And here they are with their transports:

Not sure that these will see the table frequently, but I like having this type of thing as part of the collection. They form any official part of the rules for Flames of War, it's purely a modelling thing on my behalf, and I have 6-pdrs and 17-pdrs done like this.

We had one interesting game pre-Covid where the allied (Canadian) force had to rush forward limbered A/T guns to provide infantry with support against marauding Panthers, which then deployed into useful positions. Those looked cool too!

It'll be nice to give the Germans a similar option, or to scare the players with sight of this unit dashing down a road somewhere off in the distance... The joys of very large tables, bwa ha ha. 

These three guns at 15mm come out at 12 points. 

___________________________

Excellent guns, James. I like that you did these just for being a completionist and the hobby-joy of it. I can definitely get my head around that. They especially look great being towed by the tracks. They could also provide some wonderful targets of opportunity for air attack games with Thunderbolts and Typhoons clouding the skies, doing their thing. Lovely work!

- Curt

From JamesM: 15mm German Armoured SS-Armoured Cannon Platoon (48 points)

Hi folks,

I've been continuing with my 15mm German half-track project, and this week have six Sd.Kfz. 251/9 Ausf. D vehicles from the 12th 'Heavy' kompanie of III/26. SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, 12SS Panzer Division.

The 'mittlerer Schützenpanzerwagen (7,5 cm)' (Sd. Kfz. 251/9) was created as a supporting vehicle for the mechanised infantry units of the German army and SS in mid 1942. Armed with an 7.5 cm K. 37 L/24 gun (the same 'short' 75mm gun that had been mounted on the early StuG and Panzer IVs, but later designated as 7.5 cm K. 51 (Sf.)), this vehicle lends some heavy direct firepower. In FoW terms, these vehicles are still dangerous to most allied tanks in the Normandy theatre. 

Still, they have negligible armour themselves - and being open topped are particular vulnerable to artillery and mortar fire.  

I've painted the six vehicles which (according to a full order of battle) would be assigned to the heavy support company of the battalion. For this, the hull numbers 443-448 have been used. 

Painting wise, I went with the same recipe as my other half-tracks. I used the Skytrex decals for the side and rear hull numbers, as the smaller ones I had used for this previously from Doms Decals didn't cover the number range I required. License plates and division symbol were also added. 

Foliage was added using seafoam 'branches' and leaf flock. Basing has been done to the same style as the rest of my 15mm Normandy collection. I focussed this on the front of the vehicles, where foliage might have been added to camouflage the vehicle in a hedge or treeline. 

For camo on these, I kept similar colours to those used before, but in a different camo pattern. I'm afraid I don't have the skills currently to airbrush, so the camo pattern is a little heavier and harder edged that I would have liked. However, at tabletop distances it will work. 

A close up of some of the unit

These models are 15mm Plastic Soldier Company kits (PSC) with the PSC upgrade sprue used to convert them into the 251/9 versions. Crew will be painted and added at a later date. 

This units completion leaves 12 more vehicles to finish on my planned Order of Battle (with 34 half-tracks or associated vehicles painted since November). 

Points wise, 6 x 15mm vehicles (8 points each) = 48 points. 

Lovely little half tracks James, it's nice to see these support vehicles with the 75mm gun.  As you say, they pack a punch but can't take any in return.  The decals, came and accoutrements look really good.  Well done.

From JamesM: A mixed batch of 15mm Battlefront Grilles (32 points)

Hi folks,

A second entry this week, but a similar theme. I present four Battlefront resin and metal 15mm vehicles, in the form of two '15cm Schweres Infanteriegeschütz 33 (Sf) auf Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf. H' (Grille Ausf. H) self propelled infantry guns, and two '15cm Schweres Infanteriegeschütz 33/1 auf Selbstfahrlafette 38(t) (Sf) Ausf. M' (Grille Ausf. K) self propelled infantry guns. Catchy names! Hence they most often go by the name Grille (Cricket). 

These are basically two versions of the same concept, using the same base Czech Panzer 38(t) tank chassis and 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun. 

Grille H

Grille K

I ended up with both versions due to happenstance and lack of clarity in sources. Someone gave me a single Grille K model, and so I bought another to be able to field a pair. Then Battlefront brought out the newer version of the Grille H, and the old v3 Flames of War books puts this version in Normandy. My own research seems to show that 12th SS Panzer may have had both, with some Grille K's being delivered as the campaign went on. Either way, I figured they were cool little models and I would find a use for them. 

I treated these in a similar way to my half-tracks, using the same paint colours. For camo patterns I go with the whole 'Schmidt has been told to paint the camo on, but he's meeting his French girlfriend in two hours and only has a mop' method. I keep camo patterning within platoons the same, but each platoon has a different style. The camo is then dulled down with a stipple of the base camo colour. 

Hull numbers have been added to the superstructure sides (514-515 and 524-525), along with German crosses, divisional markings to the front and rear hull numbers on the Grille H. Decals are a mix of Skytrex and Dom's Decals. I also weather down the markings a bit, just to make them a little less fresh looking. 

These vehicles would be from the 5th Company of III battalion, 26 SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment, 12th SS Panzer Division. 

I added foliage in keeping with the other models in this project, but also as one of the models was dropped and damage caused to the fighting compartment walls. Some hasty repairs resulted, and the damaged area covered with some foliage!

Some Tamiya weathering product has been applied, but other than that I've gone light on weathering. I may go back and add some soot to the gun barrels!

I do have gun crew for these models, and they will be painted and added post challenge. For now the models are table ready!

These four 15mm vehicles clock in at 32 points. 

I've heard it said that the baddest gangstas all sport a Grille!  Wonderful looking kit here James, love the basing, weathering and quick camo job which might actually be quite effective.    Having spent long (happy) hours researching RN naval camo, I know that what's on hand tends me the most frequently applied coloration and whatever they feel like they feel like that still fits in general guideline the most common pattern.

I had a chuckle over the comments on  your "due to happenstance and lack of clarity in sources"  excuse.  I'll have to borrow that for some of my over completeness purchases, like trying to build every Allied destroyer that served in the Med in WW2.